A wild game took place in Goodyear, Arizona on Thursday afternoon. Cincinnati led 6-1 after two innings but then found themselves down by five after the top of the 5th. The Reds would claw their way back before scoring four runs in the bottom of the 9th inning that was capped off by a walk-off home run by Rece Hinds to give them a win over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Highlights
Los Angeles got on the board in the 1st inning after the first two runners reached base and then saw a runner come in to score on a sacrifice fly by former Reds utilityman Santiago Espinal. The Reds got that run back and more in their half of the inning. Matt McLain singled and then scored when Elly De La Cruz hit a 438-foot home run from the right side of the plate to put Cincinnati up 2-1. Spencer Steer would draw a 2-out walk later in the inning and then score when Will Benson inflicted some left-on-left damage with a 2-run home run of his own.
The Reds added to their lead in the bottom of the 2nd inning when Christian Encarnacion-Strand singled to begin the inning and then scored when Matt McLain crushed his 4th homer of the spring to make it 6-1. About five minutes later the Dodgers got both runs back as Emilio Pagan gave up back-to-back home runs to Max Muncy and Santiago Espinal to begin the 3rd. A couple of minutes later Los Angeles kept it going when Noah Miller crushed a 432-foot 2-run home run to bring his team within a run.
Tony Santillan took over to begin the 4th inning and he ran into plenty of troubles of his own. He walked two batters before facing off against former teammate Santiago Espinal with one out and two men on. Once again it was Espinal getting revenge on his previous club as he crushed another home run and put the Dodgers up 8-6. With two outs Santillan would walk his third batter of the inning and be replaced by Simon Miller, who got out of the inning with no further damage.
Connor Phillips didn’t have much better luck in the 5th inning. He started off the inning with a walk, then gave up a single, and an RBI double followed before another walk loaded the bases. The Dodgers then scored a run on a ground out and a sacrifice fly to put up a 4-spot and extend their lead to 11-6.
Cincinnati came to the plate in the bottom of the 5th inning and got themselves a bit of a rally going. Matt McLain led off with a bloop single into center and then Elly De La Cruz lined a hit back up the middle of his own. Two pitches later Nathaniel Lowe hit a ball 444 feet deep into left field for a 3-run homer to cut into the Los Angeles lead. The Reds would then load the bases on two walks and a hit batter and pick up a run on a ground out to cap off the inning and head to the 6th down by just one run.
The Dodgers would tack on a run in the 7th inning when Zach Maxwell allowed a walk and two singles as Los Angeles would pad their lead. They would pick up another run two innings later when Julian Aguiar gave up a solo homer to former Red Nick Senzel.
In the bottom of the 9th inning the Reds would bring the tying run to the plate after back-to-back walks began the inning. That brought Hector Rodriguez to the plate and after falling behind 0-2 he battled back to even up the count and just missed tying things up as he settled for a double off the warning track in deep right-center to drive in a run. That brought Rece Hinds to the plate and he didn’t fall just short as he hit a walk-off 3-run home run on a laser down the left field line.
You can see the box score for this game here.
News and Notes
Matt McLain went 3-3 with his 4th home run in six games this spring. He’s hitting an absurd .647 with three walks, one strikeout, and he’s slugging 1.412. Elly De La Cruz, Nathaniel Lowe, and Christian Encarnacion-Strand all went 2-3 in the game.
Julian Aguiar was the only Reds pitcher on the day to have more strikeouts than walks. He didn’t walk anyone and had four strikeouts in his 2.0 innings of relief.
Hagen Danner was the only pitcher for Cincinnati to record more than one out in the game and not give up a run. He tossed a perfect 6th inning.
The two teams combined to hit 10 home runs, with each club having five of them. The two teams also had more walks from their hitters than they had strikeouts.
Cincinnati hits the road for Friday’s game. They’ll be the visiting team in a contest against the San Francisco Giants. This will be radio only. First pitch is set for 3:05pm ET. Scheduled to pitch for the Reds in this one: Andrew Abbott, Sam Moll, Yunior Marte, Tejay Antone, and Lyon Richardson.
Let’s hear it Melvin!
hahaha!!! You know it. 😀
Ya, I’m upset, too, that the Reds gave up so quickly on Espinal 🙂
He made an MLB ASG. What year did you make one?
@OT, sorry, just a little attempt at humor on my part. No, I haven’t made an MLB All-Star Game, and I apologize for posting something that you found offensive.
It may be only ST, but winning against Milwaukee, Chicago, and now LA is fun all the same. Lots of competition for the last few open slots. Hinds is looking credible but I still think Bleday, Myers, and Lowe are more likely than than Hinds or Benson.
+10,000
I agree. It’s fun to see the ball flying out and beating these teams. Those would also be my bench choices along with the obvious Trevino. I’d like to see Hinds to force his way up. Kid’s easy to root for.
Yes – Bleday with plenty of MLB experience gets 2 or 3 months to prove out, and Myers is the CF backup/platoon advantage OF. But it could be a quick hook if they falter and Benson/Hinds/Dunn are lighting it up in AAA.
ANY win over the Hollywood Dodgers is a good win!
I’m trying hard not to get too excited about Rece Hinds but it’s getting harder every day. 🙂 The best part is he’s only Kd four times in 15 PA. Two singles, a double, triple and two HR along with three BB mostly coming off the bench. All of his hits have been hard. No cheapies.
So far so good.
For the brief quotes I have seen from Hinds this spring, I think he is feeling unfettered and relaxed. His mindset is to control what he controls and let whatever happens happen.
If he takes care of business, even if the Reds go in a different direction, somebody will come calling for him with an offer too good for the Reds to refuse.
I have only followed the development of Hinds in passing but I think the young man’s talent will probably be realized with another team. The Red’s outfield situation looks improved but it’s crowded. With Hunter Greene’s injury situation unclear, Hinds could be included in a trade for pitching.
@TR>> Maybe the Reds need to reduce the crowded outfield numbers at the opposite end of the spectrum from Hinds where they have a group of older misfitted pieces whose ceilings appear to be league average offense at best.
Not to be a Debbie Downer but the number of WALKS by Reds pitchers so far this spring is bordering on the ridiculous!
Bordering? I think that’s being generous. And while we can dismiss some as ST, it’s a multi year pattern for the Reds.
Thought the Reds had the #1 Pitching Coach and Coordinator in baseball. All we see is walks and arm injuries, year after year.
Reds as a team were 11th in the majors in walks last year.
It’s. The. First. Week. Of. Spring. Training.
I want to see Rece claim a starting spot.
Ditto!
Reds outfield situation not feeling so dire these days…
Bengals beat the Rams by nailing the PAT.
I would have been rooting for the Rams in that one.
Reds had three 4-run rallies today.
Espinal didn’t a single homer last season in more than 300 ABs playing for the Reds. Today he hit 2 home runs against them playing for the Dodgers now…hilarius…
The pitching struggles continue …there was a strong wind all the game and the sun plays a factor helping the hitters too
He hit 9 HR (his career high) for Reds in 2024.
I think the dry air (which makes breaking balls not break so much, and not in a controllable way), and probably not everybody is up to velocity (throwing), makes some of the pitching look like Batting Practice.
I wonder if it is hard for pitchers to break a sweat, and able to grip the baseball well? Grip influences a lot of breaking balls.
It wasn’t just the Reds and Dodgers today…there were a lot of funny scores. So the whole thing with walks (control of breaking pitches?) and all the runs is just Spring Training. I never recall the teams running up such scores when they all used to play in Florida, which was a much more humid place (and near to sea level).
Color me pleasantly surprised when I checked the final score. Sure it was sloppy pitching, but the bash-fest is fun (even wind and heat aided).
Reds are scoring a lot this Spring Training
No Tre not cool.
Not cool.
Why is it not cool?
You don’t want them to be great?
Nope
Bleday, Lowe, Benson and HRod certainly add some power off the bench (and are far more fun) than 2025. Jacob Hurtubise? Mike Ford?
Myers, Dunn and Hinds, in my opinion, will all contribute off the bench this year as the RH OF. When it’s all said and done, it will be a team effort. I like this team’s OF better than last year’s
This reflects a combination of 2025 player development (Benson, Hinds, Dunn, HRod) as well as solid front office moves (Bleday, Lowe, Myers).
Rather than frame this as, those who win opening days jobs and those who don’t, i am beginning to see the a whole roster and its improvement.
And that’s before considering the middle infield group, the McLain/Steer tandem at 2B and the Elly/McLain tandem at SS. With Arroyo looking quite good IMO, and Balcazar fighting above his weight, i like the middle infield depth for the 2026 campaign.
And the corners? Sal. Geno. Hayes. Lowe. And some guy named Spencer Steer.
We do seem to have some good depth building with the addition of Bleday, and Myers. Then we have Rodriguez, Arroyo, and Collier on the horizon. All of that will put the pressure on Dunn, Hinds, and Benson.
I watched the highlight of McLain hitting a HR and it’s literally the only swing I’ve seen him take this Spring Training, but I was curious has he changed his stance a bit? I thought he looked a little more comfortable/relaxed in the batter’s box than he looked at the plate last year.
This Reds team will win the division. It will be close, but it will not come down to the last game of the season. I have been watching the Reds since 1970. I do not need a bunch of stats, I can see with my eyes. Buy your tickets and enjoy.
I love the optimism. I also see a lot of talent in the NL central this year. Very good managers too. I would put the talent in the NL central up against any division this year.
very cool!
Surprised to see Nick Senzel is still hanging around and playing 3b.